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Urbanization, which is accompanied by the flow of various production factors, leads to increasingly close spatial linkages between cities, and exerts profound influences on water resource use. This study focuses on the three major urban agglomerations in China's Yangtze River Economic Belt, and examines the temporal changes and spatial variations of its water resource use based on an improved water ecological footprints (WEFs) model that uses city-level data to calculate yield factors and considers the recycling of water resources. Moreover, this study investigates the spatial autocorrelation of WEFs and explores the spatial correlations between WEFs and three dimensions of urbanization (population, economy, land) in three urban agglomerations. The results show that the WEF is the highest in the downstream of the Yangtze River and the lowest in the upper stream. City-level WEFs have significant spatial autocorrelations, and cities with high water use are often concentrated. In some regions, urbanization and WEFs have significant spatial correlations, indicating the environmental externality of urbanization on water resource use. This study contributes to the methodology of developing localized water use evaluation indices, and provides insights into the driving factors of WEFs and the environmental externality of urbanization at different spatial scales. Its findings provide empirical support for formulating and implementing more targeted water resources protection measures in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: With the rapid development of China’s “gig economy,” the on-call work model has grown increasingly prevalent in China and has attracted a large number of rural migrant workers with its low employment threshold. However, this irregular employment mode may negatively impact the mental health of workers. Methods: This paper uses an ordinal logistic regression model to study the relationship between Chinese rural migrant workers’ on-call work and their depression. Results: The results showed that after controlling for relevant variables, the odds ratio of depressive mood among rural migrant workers engaged in on-call work was 1.22 (95% CI 1.04–1.43) compared with rural migrant workers who did not need to be on call. In further heterogeneity research, we found that on-call work is more likely to aggravate the depression risk of rural migrant workers who are highly dependent on the internet and have low-wage incomes. Discussion: This research suggests that appropriate measures should be taken to mitigate the negative impact of on-call work on the mental health of rural migrant workers, and more attention needs to be paid to the mental health of lower salaried and gig workers. This paper provides a valuable sample of Chinese rural migrant workers for theoretical research on the relationship between on-call work and mental health and confirms the relationship between the two. These results contribute new ideas to the theory and practice of psychological crisis intervention aimed at Chinese rural migrant workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the drivers behind migration from larger to smaller cities and from urban to rural areas (counter-urbanization), along with the reverse migration (re-urbanization) during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing a retrospective survey of 1000 respondents across China from January 2020 to April 2023, we explored how pandemic-related factors influenced migration behaviors. A theoretical framework integrating push-pull, risk perception, and human capital theories was developed. Boxplot visualization was used to examine the motivations for counter-urbanization during the pandemic, and regression models were applied to identify the complex factors driving both counter-urbanization and re-urbanization. Key findings reveal that pandemic-induced insecurity and perceptions of the strictness and effectiveness of virus prevention measures significantly influenced migration decisions. Notably, land ownership in rural hometowns served as a crucial "safety net" for rural populations, affecting their migration decisions. This study differentiates between migration types: urban-to-rural versus larger-to-smaller cities, and compares the driving factors behind both processes. By focusing on both counter-urbanization and re-urbanization, this research highlights the interplay of psychological, policy, and economic factors that shape migration patterns in the context of public health crises. • Analyzed pandemic-driven counter-urbanization and re-urbanization in China. • Utilized a nation-wide retrospective survey with 1000 respondents. • Integrated push-pull, risk perception, and human capital theories. • Found pandemic-related insecurity and policy perceptions key to migration. • Highlighted land property's significance for rural migrants' decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate performance of the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) automated language-analysis system for the Chinese Shanghai dialect and Mandarin (SDM) languages. Method: Volunteer parents of 22 children aged 3-23 months were recruited in Shanghai. Families provided daylong in-home audio recordings using LENA. A native speaker listened to 15 min of randomly selected audio samples per family to label speaker regions and provide Chinese character and SDM word counts for adult speakers. LENA segment labeling and counts were compared with rater-based values. Results: LENA demonstrated good sensitivity in identifying adult and child; this sensitivity was comparable to that of American English validation samples. Precision was strong for adults but less so for children. LENA adult word count correlated strongly with both Chinese characters and SDM word counts. LENA conversational turn counts correlated similarly with rater-based counts after the exclusion of three unusual samples. Performance related to some degree to child age. Conclusions: LENA adult word count and conversational turn provided reasonably accurate estimates for SDM over the age range tested. Theoretical and practical considerations regarding LENA performance in non-English languages are discussed. Despite the pilot nature and other limitations of the study, results are promising for broader cross-linguistic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several studies conducted during the past two decades suggested increasing trend of childhood allergic diseases in China. However, few studies have provided detailed description of geographic variation and explored risk factors of these diseases. This study investigated the pattern and risk factors of asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema in eight metropolitan cities in China. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey during November-December 2005 in eight metropolitan cities in China. A total of 23791 children aged 6-13 years participated in this survey. Questions from the standard questionnaire of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Children (ISAAC) were used to examine the pattern of current asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema. Logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the risk factors for childhood allergies. Results: The average prevalence of childhood asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema across the eight cities was 3·3% (95% Confidence interval (CI): 3·1%, 3·6%), 9·8% (95% CI: 9·4%, 10·2%) and 5·5% (95% CI: 5·2%, 5·8%), respectively. Factors related to lifestyle, mental health and socio-economic status were found to be associated with the prevalence of childhood allergies. These risk factors were unevenly distributed across cities and disproportionately affected the local prevalence. Conclusions: There was apparent geographic variation of childhood allergies in China. Socio-environmental factors had strong impacts on the prevalence of childhood allergies; but these impacts differed across regions. Thus public health policies should specifically target at the local risk factors for each individual area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study compared the relative importance of proactive coping and preventive coping in the adjustment to university life among 403 freshmen at a Chinese university and evaluated the function of proactive coping in the stress process. Participants completed the Future-Oriented Coping Inventory (Gan, Yang, Zhou, & Zhang, 2007), the Student-Life Stress Inventory (Gadzella, 1994), and the College Maladjustment Scale (Kleinmuntz, 1960). Bolger and Zuckerman's (1995) differential exposure model of personality was borrowed to examine whether the students were exposed to different levels of current stress and to explore the impact of stress on maladjustment. The results suggest that stress has a mediating effect between proactive coping and maladjustment but not between preventive coping and maladjustment. The results also suggest that only proactive coping plays an important role in university adjustment, and proactive coping is a dispositional trait rather than a coping strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding farmers' preferences for efficiency and equity regarding different land use rights is necessary for the success of land reforms because economic efficiency with equity is the key distinguishing feature of China's land reforms. This paper presents a comparative analysis of farmers' preferences for tenure security (a measure of efficiency) and distribution equality in two similar but distinct land use practices: reallocating physical farmland and reallocating forest monetary shares, both of which contradict government-imposed tenure individualization policies but have long co-existed in some parts of Southeast China. The analysis includes farmers' self-interested as well as prosocial motivations. Data from 222 households, collected from five communities using surveys and a public good game, shows that farmers have a high preference for distribution equality over tenure security in both types of land reallocations. Using bivariate probit models, we find farmers' preferences for reallocating land property rights are associated with their prosocial preferences, but the influence of prosocial preferences varies across reallocations. Moreover, the higher cost of implementing farmland reallocations contributes to farmers' higher preference for tenure security in farmland reallocations than in forest shareholdings reallocations. The research provides empirical evidence of the influence of prosocial motivations on farmers' land property rights preferences and demonstrates that farmers in the same communities may have different preferences for land property rights for two land uses (agriculture and forestry), and the influencing factors and their influence on land property rights preferences may also vary across land uses. • China's land rights reallocations show the equal access vs. secure tenure trade-off. • Farmers' preferences for reallocations manifest their prosocial motivations. • Reallocations take different forms across various land use contexts. • Reallocating physical farmland is more costly than reallocating forest shareholdings. • Cost factors affect how farmers balance equal access against secure tenure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caregivers of 608 (331 boys and 277 girls) children in Shanghai, China reported on their children's language development and on the language teaching practices used in the home. The children were between 24 and 47 months old. The relation of age-corrected language level to paternal education, child gender, and teaching practice use was examined. Children of more educated fathers were more advanced in language development than children of less educated fathers. Girls were more advanced than boys. Some language teaching practices were positively related to language development but one, the practice of eliciting imitation from children, was negatively related to language development. Vocabulary development showed a greater number of significant relations to environmental variables than did grammatical development. These results suggest the cross-linguistic and cross-cultural generalizability of previous findings from studies of North American samples with respect to correlates of children's early language development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study examines whether the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) exists on China's noise pollution problem. • Relationship between noise pollution and economic development in China is inverted N-shaped at the national scale. • Shapes of noise pollution EKC curves have substantial regional variations. • The development of the tertiary industry has increased noise pollution. As one of the most common environmental problems, noise pollution in modern cities has been causing many short-term and long-term health problems. This study examines whether the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) exists on China's noise pollution problem. Based on the two-way fixed effects model, we study the relationship between noise pollution and economic development based on the noise monitoring data from 111 cities in China from 1991 to 2017, and the robustness test was conducted using GMM and semi-parametric methods. We find that 1) Relationship between noise pollution and economic development in China is inverted N-shaped at the national scale. 2) Shapes of noise pollution EKC curves have substantial regional variations: the curve is inverted N-shaped in the eastern region, inverted U-shaped in the central region, and linear in the western region. 3) Missing key variables in the parameter regression will change the turning point. 4) Development of the tertiary industry will increase noise pollution. Our research results show that economic development does not necessarily lead to environmental degradation. The government should play an important role in noise pollution control and pay more attention to the environmental demands of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The effects of chronic exercise interventions (CEIs) on core symptoms and executive functions (EFs) of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and how different characteristics of CEIs could modify the effect remain unclear. We synthesized the current evidence on the effects of CEIs on core symptoms and EFs in children and adolescents with ADHD. METHODS: Data sources include PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure from database inception to July 31, 2022. Study selection includes randomized controlled trials that reported on the effects of CEIs on core symptoms and/or EFs in ADHD aged 6 to 18 years. RESULTS: Twenty-two randomized controlled trials were included. CEIs had a small beneficial effect on overall core symptoms (standardized mean difference [SMD] 5 0.39, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.64 to 0.14), as well as inattention (SMD 5 0.32, 95% CI: 0.63 to 0.004) among children and adolescents with ADHD. Closed-skill exercise showed a large improvement in core symptoms (SMD 5 0.83, 95% CI:1.30 to 0.35), whereas open-skill exercise did not. Additionally, CEIs had a moderately beneficial effect on overall EFs (SMD 5 0.68, 95% CI: 0.91 to 0.45) and a moderate-to-large effect on the specific domains of EFs. The pooled effects on overall core symptoms and EFs were not significantly modified by study population (children or adolescents), exercise session duration (#50 or >50 minutes per session, median), or total exercise sessions (<24 or $24 sessions, median). CONCLUSIONS: CEIs have small-to-moderate beneficial effects on overall core symptoms and EFs in children and adolescents with ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]